North Devon, November 18th â 20th 2005

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North Devon
November 18th – 20th 2005

The meet was based in ElmscottNorth DevonNovember 18th – 20th 2005

The meet was based in Elmscott, roughly half-way between Bideford and Bude on the North Devon coast in what, in summer, is a Youth Hostel. In winter, it’s closed to the public, so we had sole use of a very comfortable and well-appointed bunk-house.

Having arrived pretty late on the Friday night, Sandy, Karen and me missed Saturday’s early morning reveille and the walk south along the coast to Bude. Instead, once we had actually woken up and got ourselves organized, we struck out north towards Hartland Point. .

The coast along this stretch faces due west; if you were to set sail straight out from the shore, your first landfall would be in Newfoundland. Millennia of pounding from the Atlantic have shaped the coastline into spectacular cliffs, arches and sea-stacks. Numerous rivers and streams have cut into the landscape, ensuring lots of ups and downs as we headed along.

The weather was absolutely glorious; a classic crisp winter’s day with barely a cloud in the sky, and the views along the coast and across to Lundy Island were wonderful. We even came across several groups of surfers braving the November waters. Lunch stop by the lighthouse at Harland Point, and back more or less the way we’d come and first shot at the showers back at the hostel.

The hostel being in the middle of nowhere, Saturday evening saw a mass cook-in and fireside chat. Thanks to Nigel and Wayne for the monster bread-and-butter pudding!

Sunday saw the whole dozen of us strolling along the coast east of Hartland Point to the picture-postcard village of Clovelly. While not quite as rugged as the west-facing coast, the scenery was still beautiful. It was another glorious day (at one point, Sandy’s thermometer suggested it was 21°C) and we reached Clovelly in time for lunch on the harbour wall (or in the pub, according to choice) before swinging round and heading back via a more inland route through fields and woodland. It was my first visit to that part of the country and (as the saying goes), I’ll be back.